Errors in Judgment
by Higuchimon
Summary: Yubel hasn't had a human body for this long in quite a while. She has to remember to eat, to drink...and what the effects of drinking are.
1. Hunger

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
><strong>Title:<strong> Errors in Judgment: 1-3: Hunger  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Yubel, Johan  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 4,478||story: 4,478  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Humor, Angst||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Feedback:<strong> All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Yubel hasn't had a human body for this long in quite a while. She has to remember to eat, to drink...and what the effects of drinking are.

* * *

><p>Dark World's winds gusted across the ruins of what had once been a proud and prosperous village. Half-burned timbers lay scattered about, with the dark red of coals glowing in piles of ash.<p>

_My beloved does such good work. _Yubel stepped through the shattered debris, her booted feet crushing small twigs to powder and rocks shifting beneath her. Even after having watched it herself, from a safe and proper distance, it was still amazing at how quickly everything could change.

She brushed her stolen fingers across what might once have been a curtain or perhaps a bedsheet, now torn and with a faint acrid odor arising from it. Her eyes glowed as she drank in the sweet darkness that surrounded the tattered ruin.

Smoke and shadows, screams and fears. Yubel hissed from between her teeth, her lips twisting into a delighted grin. Yes. More, more of it! More of the darkness that Juudai spread, more of the pain that she gave him and he returned to her!

She moved through the ruin, touching the side of a building here and running her fingers through scattered ashes there, images of the past brought to mind by each movement. Haou's armies invaded, easily cresting the defensive barriers, slaughtering those who tried to defend their families and friends, capturing those same families and friends once the defenders fell.

Somewhere in the middle of the wreckage, she came across another shattered timber, one that looked no different from any of the others. Not to sight, at least. But Yubel had senses much stronger and more dependable than mere sight.

Images flickered through her mind as she wrapped her arms around the smoldering wood, breathing in a scent only she could've known was there. _He stood here. In this spot._ A low moan slid between her lips, passionate and longing. Juudai. _Juudai. _If only he would accept her love.

In time, she reminded herself. He had much to learn, and it would be better if he finished Super Fusion first. Until then, she would be patient.

That didn't stop her from hugging the splintered beam closer and nuzzling her head against it, imagining Juudai's arms around her, imagining the warm passage of his breath against her ears, hearing his voice whispering vows of eternal love once again.

Splinters pricked against her bare skin and she welcomed the pain. Whether Juudai knew it or not, he gave that to her. Sweet, delicious pain, the stuff of love itself, without which there could be nothing. No friendship. No love.

But even Yubel couldn't deceive herself forever. She dropped the timber and glanced down at it, anger glinting in her mad orange eyes now. _It isn't Juudai. It was never Juudai._ It was only a wreck, a wretched piece of wood that he'd _stood near_ and it _wasn't him_ and how dare it not be him!

She struck downward with the flat of her hand, darkness following the movement in a cold arc. Not even splinters remained once her hand passed. It was not Juudai. It deserved nothing from her but her contempt.

_What did that accomplish?_ His voice. The thief's voice, echoing in the back of her mind. _I'm in my mind. You're in my body._

"Does it matter?" She purred under her breath, pulling the hood of her cloak up as she began to make her way out of the ruins. She'd seen all that she needed to see here. Time to move on and perhaps find a duel or two for herself. She hadn't yet fully tamed the Advanced Gem Beasts, after all. Perhaps finishing off a small hamlet or two would teach them obedience to her will.

Johan could hear her thoughts, when she permitted him to. She could feel what he felt, whenever she wanted to. His stomach churned as she contemplated how best to spend the rest of her day until returning to her tower. She did need to practice more with her new deck, and there was no better way to do so than by dueling with it.

_No._ Johan's voice, hard and insistent, attempted to crash into her mind. Perhaps that might've worked better if she wasn't in such total control of her mind and his body. As it was, his demand came across as more of a gentle brush or the whining of a spoiled brat.

Yes. There was a small group of survivors only a short distance away, a few scattered remnants huddled together to protect one another from Haou's warriors and all the other dangers of Dark World. _Such as me. _Perhaps one or two of them could provide what she needed. If nothing else, the stress and fear they suffered through would be delicious. One had to keep up one's strength, after all.

She could still hear Johan's screams of denial, but there was little he could do beyond watch as she began to track down her new prey. "You've seen me do this before. Why do you still fight against me?"

_It's wrong._ Johan had no fists to clench but she knew he wanted to do so. _Let my family go, Yubel!_

She tilted her head (his head?) and considered it for a long, eternal second.

"No." Really, after seeing her duel with _her_ deck for the past month and more, Johan should've accepted that he could do nothing. He had no way to gain his body back unless she chose to give it to him and she could remove him from it again in the blink of an eye.

_What makes you think I'd just give up? _Her eyes narrowed at the strength still flowing through his mind. He was stubborn. Just as stubborn as she was, or so he wanted to believe.

"You'll never win against me. I've already defeated you." Doing so had been an intense pleasure, almost as great as dueling against Juudai after all those years had been.

_Rematch._

Oh, he was amusing. And annoying. "No." She had more important matters to attend to today than prodding at him, no matter how amusing it was. Training the Advanced Gem Beasts came to mind. Which, truthfully, was business and pleasure all at the same time. Not to mention providing a delicious stream of dark hatred from Johan with every card she played. His first sight of Advanced Gem Beast Ruby Carbuncle had been _wonderful_. She hadn't known such language existed in this modern age.

She'd taken only half a dozen steps before a strange sound stopped her in her tracks. The sound was oddly familiar, but not something she could place right away. She began again; perhaps it was just some wild animal in the brush where she couldn't see? It did sound somewhat like a growl, after all.

Again the sound came, louder this time, and much closer. Yubel flexed her fingers; how could it be closer but she hadn't heard it move? There wasn't that much brush to hide anything either, now that she took a better look. Most of what had been there burned in Haou's attack. A few scattered rocks littered the area, but none of those were large enough to conceal anything larger than a human child or one of the smaller spirits. None of those were anything for her to worry about.

_You don't know what that is? _Johan's voice rang with laughter. Her hand dived without hesitation to the deck holder on her hip.

"Tell me what it is." She didn't need to add 'or else'. The way her hand gripped on the deck said it for her.

Before he could respond, the sound came for a third time, and she realized now how _close _it was to her. It hadn't drawn close, it had been that way all along and she hadn't noticed. "Thief."

There was a sort of mental sigh from Johan now. _It's your stomach. My stomach. I'm hungry. _Neither she nor he were entirely certain if that was the right phrasing, given her ownership of the body and his continued existence attached to it, but the message was clear nevertheless.

"Nonsense. I don't eat human food." She'd prepared a steak when she'd worn the other boy's body, that child Martin, but that had held a purpose to it, drawing the Masked Knights' human hosts to her. She hadn't actually eaten any of it herself.

_I do. You can't go for a month without eating. **I** can't, anyway._

Ridiculous. She'd fed on darkness for the last month and that sustained her. Why wasn't it doing so now?

_How should I know? What I know is that I'm starving and if you don't do something about it, or let me do something about it, then my body won't be useful to you anymore, because it's not going to work anymore._

As much as she wanted to tell him to stop lying (he was a thief, how could he not lie? He'd already tried to tell her that he didn't love Juudai and that was insane, because who could not love Juudai?), the hunger was too strong to deny. This body needed food that wasn't the shadows she usually drew her sustenance from.

Which meant she was going to have to find someplace that _had_ food that a human body could use.

Where could that be? Haou's depredations had ruined so many villages in the area that those that survived would hardly have food for themselves, much less for a visitor. His army took any supplies they could find for themselves as well, leaving only shattered ruins behind.

_And you were so proud of him just a few minutes ago. _Johan taunted, his voice sharp and edged. She would've smacked him if she could.

"I am. He's learning." Granted, right now those lessons were _mildly_ inconveniencing her, but she was certain she could deal with this situation. It was only food.

She would have to travel to find an area that Haou's troops hadn't touched yet. Hopefully she wouldn't have to go all that far. The way the stomach roared indicated that she needed to eat _soon_.

She needed more than that, really, she realized as she hurried along. Juudai didn't need to know just yet that Johan survived. There was only one way to make certain _that_ didn't happen. Such a thought amused her deeply, and she was no less amused by how much it revolted Johan.

Her attention flickered this way and that as she moved, far more swiftly than any normal human form would be able to. Even wearing Johan's body didn't hamper her abilities. Oddly enough, unlike those others she'd worn as hosts or channeled her power through, he was amazingly suited to her strength.

No. She would not think anything like that. Johan was _not_ suited to her. Worse than that, he wasn't suited to _Juudai_. He could ape her old form, he could mimic her sacrifice, he could pretend to take her place in any way that he chose, but he was not her. He would never be her.

_That's fine with me._ She would find a way to smack him one of these days, without having to emerge from his body to do so. He deserved a proper punishment, something more than what she'd been able to give so far. _Stealing my body and my family isn't enough for you?_

"That is just the beginning." She couldn't yet imagine everything she wanted to do to Johan for his _nerve_ in so much as talking to Juudai. Calling himself Juudai's best friend. _Daring_ to steal Juudai's love from her!

_I've told you before, I don't love him. Not like that._ She ignored those words. Lies, cheap lies, nothing more. _You really like just listening to yourself, don't you?_

Yubel brought her focus back to what mattered, the finding of food. A farm would perhaps be suitable, one that was out of the way and whose population could be easily dealt with when she satisfied her hunger. In fact, now that she considered the matter more, the mere fact she had to do this showed how inferior Johan was. Her true form needed only darkness to survive. _He_ had to eat and drink and…

"If it comes to that, you'll do that." She would give him the body back for that much, if nothing else.

_Thank you. So much._

So far as she searched, however, Yubel couldn't find anywhere that looked like a farm. Villages and small towns, even once or twice a place large enough for some to consider them a large town or small city, but no farms. They had to exist, but none of them were _here_.

Fine, then. She would do without a farm. There were other places she could find food. Taverns came to mind almost right away. She'd been to taverns before, with Juudai, long ago.

_You are not trying to tell me that Juudai ever took you to a bar._Disbelief colored Johan's mental voice and Yubel smiled.

"No. I took him, a very long time ago." She hadn't yet told him of their past together. That was a sacred secret, something that only her beloved needed to know. Thieves like Johan only needed to know they were interfering in something far greater than they could imagine.

The taverns of Kuragari were far different from anything that could be found in this day and age, though. Even the meanest tavern of their old home held vintages that made what was available now taste like swamp water. After seven thousand years, she doubted anything from their land existed still. Especially not after…

Yubel averted her thoughts again, but more because something far more interesting than the dead past caught her attention. Not that far away, built halfway into the side of the mountain, she saw a building. A sign hanging out front that she supposed represented a bunch of grapes indicated that it served _something_ edible there. _Good enough_. She had no idea of how far she was from where they'd begun, but from the demands her stomach now put forth, it was too far.

There was no time to waste on being subtle right now. Yubel threw the door open and stepped inside. She kept her hood down, though. She didn't have time for being subtle but she would always have time for craft.

"Can I help you?" Someone she presumed was the tavern's master stepped forward, a gleam of greed in his eyes. Someone who entered the way she did must ring of wealth to him.

"Bring me food. Stop only when I tell you to. I don't care what it is." She strode to the nearest table, which already had two humans and a couple of monsters seated around it. She tilted her head back just enough so they could see her burning orange eyes and a hint of a mad smirk. In moments, the table was empty.

She made herself comfortable, ignoring the way the other patrons stared at her. Let them stare. Let them think anything they wanted. Let them _do_ anything they wanted, so long as they didn't disturb her.

"Do you think he works for Haou?" So, whispers of Juudai echoed in this dingy hole already. They were not so far from where his armies marched that they wouldn't feel his blade soon enough.

"Did you see his eyes? He looks human but he can't be, not with eyes like that." How true. She was so much more than human, no matter what her body was.

The keeper stepped over to her, a tray of food held high before he set it before her. "Here you go, sir." He hesitated for a moment and she saw that greed cross his features once again. She dismissed him with an impatient flick of one hand.

"You'll get what's coming to you when I'm finished," she told him. She meant every word of it. She set to eating, recognizing roasted Raging Bull Demon as the main course. Excellent.

_I've never been partial to beef. Fish is more to my taste._Johan mused. Yubel ignored him; the fish would come if she ate enough and he could damned well wait for it. She paid little more attention to what the food actually consisted of; what mattered to her was how much there was of it.

A cup accompanied the meal, full to the brim with rich, dark red liquid. She didn't recognize at first since the scent was just different enough from what she remembered. But when she took a drink, she knew it at once.

Wine.

She closed her eyes and drank it in, savoring every memory it stirred up in her. Days spent with Juudai inspecting the vineyards, or more accurately, following along with King Aodh when he'd inspected them. Enjoying rare new vintages served only at the king's table. Teasing Juudai with a few drops on his tongue and making him guess which of the royal vineyards a particular sample came from.

He always knew; that was a game he never lost.

She fought back tears and memories in the same breath. So much as she wanted to recall those days when he knew and loved her, she had to focus on the now. She had to fuel this body so that it would continue to serve her until she had her beloved with her again.

_You do love him. _Wonder touched Johan's mental voice and Yubel renewed her vow to find a way to smack him.

_Haven't I said so enough times? _How could he have ever thought otherwise? There was no one who loved Juudai like she did. There could never be anyone who loved him like she did.

He was silent as she continued to sip the wine. It was inferior to Kuragari's worst, just as she'd thought it would be. But it was wine all the same, and for a few brief moments, she let herself dream of days long gone once again.

_"Yubel! Father wants us to go to the Northland Vineyards today! It's a long trip, three whole days there and back!" Juudai's eyes lit up with excitement as he grabbed Yubel's hand. "Come on, everything's packed already!"_

_"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yubel laughed as the two of them made their way to where the king and his escort awaited them. "You'd think you'd never left the castle before, Juudai."_

_"The Northland Vineyards are the only ones I haven't seen yet. That's where Royal Delight comes from!"_

_Yubel only smiled. Juudai could find excitement in anything. Though seeing where Royal Delight, the rarest wine in the entire land, came from was a treat that not everyone, even a member of the royal family, had. No one knew the exact process used to create Royal Delight either, at least not so far as Yubel knew. Inspecting their wineries would reveal little, Yubel suspected. But it would be an interesting journey nevertheless._

_"They say that Royal Delight wine can last for a thousand years before it goes bad. Maybe even longer! Maybe even **ten** thousand," Juudai declared in a breathless tone. "How do they do that?"_

_"Perhaps you'll be the one to find out," Aodh said, a hint of a smile on his lips. Yubel wasn't surprised at all to see Juudai sit up straighter in his saddle, eyes bright and joyful._

_"Maybe I will!"_

"Excuse me?" The tavernkeeper stood before her again, another plate of food in his hands. "Did you want this, good sir?" Again that gleam of greed. She gestured for him to set it down, then indicated her cup.

"Keep that filled." Inferior or not, it was at least wine. Perhaps it was better that it wasn't as good as the old days. She would be reminded too much of times perhaps better forgotten.

_Those days are gone. What matters from them is just that Juudai loves me._ Why he'd chosen to show that love now in pain she didn't know. Nor did it matter. That was what he gave her, so she would return it, as she always returned everything he gave her, tenfold.

Johan shifted in the back of her mind as she took a long drink, savoring the aroma. _Yubel, you should know, I don't drink that much._

She mentally rolled her eyes. As if what he did mattered to her. This was her body now. If she had to put up with eating and drinking while in it, then she would damned well eat and drink what _she_ chose to eat and drink! He would just have to get used to it.

She could feel him trying to say something again and ignored him in favor of applying herself to the food. The cook wasn't terribly bad; he or she might've served in the kitchen of one of the lesser nobles. Not skilled or talented enough for the royal palace, of course. But very few were.

The next plate of food involved fish: Seven-Colored, if she judged it correctly. She took her time with it; not because Johan'd mentioned he preferred it, but because she thought Seven-Colored Fish was worth lingering over. Delicately fried, soaked in a white wine that almost, but not quite, reminded her of a certain way the cooks served fish at the royal table, with a side of some vegetable she didn't recognize right away, but which was quite tasty as well. Johan muttered more under his mental breath and she continued to ignore him. Let him pout. She wasn't done eating yet.

_I wonder if they have any Genocide King Salmon roe._ She knew it was rare to the point of being impossible to acquire. Genocide King Salmon tended to eat more fisher folk than fisher folk ate them. In her travels, she'd noticed that those who could acquire it won great fame and renown for their courage. _Juudai could easily acquire some._ She had no doubt of that. A single glance from his beautiful golden eyes would deliver all the roe one could want.

A few people slipped in and out of the tavern while she ate; she ignored most of them. Those who left would know nothing of importance. Those who remained would soon pay the price for their curiosity. She could hear them whispering still, tossing ideas back and forth over who the starving stranger in their midst might be. None of them came even close to the truth.

_I think you're done, Yubel. Let's go. _She might well have done so, if Johan hadn't been the one to say it. She'd nearly reached the limits of what her stomach could hold, and a pleasant fog lay over her thoughts, legacy of the inferior wine.

She said nothing aloud, only gestured with her empty cup for the tavernkeeper to refill it. She didn't ask if this wine was the best available. If it wasn't, then the keeper was too much of a fool to live. Even if she'd meant to allow him to live in the first place. She leaned back, eyes flickering here and there to those few who dared to remain. None of them carried a duel disk. No battles would be fought here.

Too bad.

Yubel caressed the top of her deck; perhaps Advanced Gem Beast Sapphire Pegasus would like to roam around the tavern. A few Sapphire Dark Horns would send everyone screaming.

She'd just begun to pull the card out when the tavern doors slammed open and a tall, burly figure stepped inside, each movement as confident and assured as her own were. Golden armor covered most of him from the neck downward, with a dark cloak trailing all around him. She recognized him at once as an Invader of Darkness, one of the most powerful Demons of them all.

"Invader-sama." The tavernkeeper approached, bowing repeatedly. "How might we be of service to you?"

Invader stepped farther into the room, his gaze traveling over the various customers. Yubel remained where she was, sipping at her cup of wine, a hint of a smile on her lips.

"He _does_ work for Haou." One of those behind her whispered, the words carrying to her perked ears. "He's one of the Death Duelists. He must be here to conquer the area for his master."

_Well, what else would he be here for? Dinner and a show?_ Yubel wondered how people could've degenerated into such idiots in seven eons. She still said nothing, though. Invader of Darkness might be highly ranked in her beloved's employ, but that didn't mean she had to waste her time speaking to him. Not when she was ready to leave anyway.

She hadn't moved an inch before the newcomer strode over there, each step echoing with power and authority. "And who would you be?" Invader took one of the empty chairs there for his own, disregarding how it creaked under the weight of his armor. "You radiate power, whoever you are. Not like the rest of these pathetic creatures." He indicated the other tavern visitors with a flick of armored fingers.

"I might be many people." Yubel wouldn't give any name to this creature. Not freely, at any rate. "You'll have to win it from me." She could still feel Johan rolling his eyes and shaking his head and that made her even more determined to do this. Whatever foolishness her current host thought this was, that only made it wiser in her opinion.

The other tilted his head back, eyeing her in deep thought. "A challenge, I see. Not a duel?"

"If we dueled, then you'd be dead at the end and I couldn't tell you anything," Yubel pointed out, not doubting for a moment who the victor would be. "There are other ways to gain information." Not all of them were as interesting as a duel, but they were easier.

Invader's face couldn't be seen, but she thought he smiled as the tavernkeeper set a cup of wine before him, one whose aroma was _much_ richer than what Yubel had. "Then I propose this: a drinking contest. Whoever falls first loses."

Yubel drained the last of her wine and held it out to the tavernkeeper, eyes glittering in the depths of her hood. "Bring me what he's having. And keep it coming for both of us."

**To Be Continued**


	2. Contest

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
><strong>Title:<strong> Errors in Judgment: 2-3: Contest  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Yubel, Johan  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 4,195||story: 8,673  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Humor, Angst||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Feedback:<strong> All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Yubel hasn't had a human body for this long in quite a while. She has to remember to eat, to drink...and what the effects of drinking are.

* * *

><p>Johan wished he could beat his fists against something. Yubel's face would've been a good start, but since her face was his face right now, it wasn't the best idea. Not to mention being just this side of impossible.<p>

If he'd had proper legs and control of his own body, he would've paced back and forth right now. Granted, if he'd had any of those, this wouldn't be happening in the first place, since he would have sense enough not to get into a drinking contest with _Invader of Darkness_!

She wasn't stupid. After a month of enforced contact, he knew Yubel was many things, most of which could be classified under 'batshit insane', but stupid wasn't one of them.

So why was she doing this _now_? He couldn't pace, not in this endless expanse of nothing that kept him imprisoned, but he went through the mental motions of doing so at least. It gave him something to do when he wasn't straining through the thin thread that bound him to his body, trying to see what she was doing to it. Or to anyone around him.

He would have to look again, he knew. He couldn't just let this pass without looking. Curling up in a corner and pouting wasn't his style. If there was a way to get her to stop, it wouldn't come by ignoring everything she did.

He wasn't all that sure that he could stop her, but he had to try. He turned (though in the vast reach of shadows around him, any direction was as good as any other to concentrate on) and focused his thoughts on that slender line, forcing himself to see through his own eyes.

This was nothing like when he'd had his own body to himself. He couldn't move his head or choose when to blink. He simply sat there, a passenger in his own mind, and watched what Yubel did. She lounged back in her chair, a cup of wine in one hand, savoring the richness of it. He could taste it as well; he'd had a few glasses of wine before in his life (one didn't know Pegasus and get away without experiencing that, after all) but this was on a different level altogether.

He wasn't sure if 'taste' was the right word for this; he couldn't really feel it on his tongue or going down his throat. Like everything else, he didn't really have a tongue or throat right now. But it was close enough.

Regardless, he knew something of the taste, enough to know that it blew everything he'd ever had before away. Rich, deep, full, everything that he'd ever heard of 'wine' being described as. He breathed (needing it or not) and tried to focus more on what was going on around Yubel.

Invader of Darkness sat across from her, his own cup of wine held in his armored hand. He sipped it with evident care and attention to the taste and Johan groaned. At this rate, they'd take forever to get any kind of winner in this drinking contest done. _Just my luck. They're the type to enjoy the wine._

He strained his attention around to try to find anything that could help him. He couldn't move his eyes, but he could notice anything in Yubel's range of vision. Above him stretched smoke-stained rafters, with a few burn marks and chipped areas that he suspected marked fights of the past. One side of the tavern held a huge fireplace, bringing light and warmth into the whole room. A staircase rose just on the edge of his vision when Yubel happened to glance around, leading to rooms upstairs. They were probably storage space or space for overnight guests to sleep, he surmised.

His view of the tavern was lost as Yubel turned her attention back to her drinking rival. "Why do you even care how much power I have?" That made Johan curious as well. Though from what he'd seen, knowing who had power and who didn't was basic common sense in this world. If nothing else, you'd know who to stay away from.

"I care because Haou-sama cares." Invader sampled his wine again, finishing this cup down to the dregs and waving for the tavernkeeper to fill it. "If you're willing to serve him, that is."

Johan could feel Yubel's lips twitching, inside and out. He didn't know everything about what was going on with Juudai, but he knew enough to know if it wouldn't have given her away entirely, she would've laughed out loud. As it was, she laughed inside, loudly enough for him to hear her.

"What would it be worth to me?" Yubel asked aloud, raising one eyebrow as she leaned forward, pitching Johan's voice lower than he normally spoke, an edge to it that bespoke power and confidence.

"Power. The chance to rule at his command. What more could you want?" Invader asked, his own eyebrow going up just a little in return.

_She wants Juudai._ Johan muttered to himself, wishing he could do more than watch. Just like every time he'd wished that, nothing happened. He didn't take his attention away from the conversation, though. He didn't want to miss anything.

Yubel only smiled, a hint of sly tilting of her lips that accented the madness in her orange eyes. "Oh, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you. But I look forward to the day Haou and I can meet in person."

"Haou-sama." Invader corrected, lips turning downward. "He rules this world."

Again her lips twitched the faintest bit upward. "Of course. Haou-sama." If Invader couldn't hear the traces of mockery in her tone, Johan most certainly did.

_Why don't they get on with it?_ Johan stared at the cups as they were filled, drained, and refilled, and neither of the drinkers appeared to so much as be buzzed anymore. Yubel paused, as if listening to him, then beckoned the tavernkeeper over.

"What kind of wine is this?" There was more genuine curiosity in her tone than he'd heard from her in the last few weeks. He couldn't generally read her thoughts unless she directed them toward him or she didn't actively try to hide them, and right now, she was. But something had caught her attention, without a doubt.

The innkeeper wrung out the towel in his hands over and over again, eyes flickering between Yubel and Invader of Darkness. "Sir, I hope there's nothing wrong with the vintage. It's been in storage for some time but it's what Invader-sama always orders when he comes here." As if only just then hearing what came from his mouth, he flinched, eyes jerking toward Invader at once.

"I said, what kind of wine is it, not what was wrong with it." Yubel leaned forward, eyes gleaming from the shadows of the hood. The innkeeper took a step back and swallowed.

"It's been kept in the inn for as long as anyone can remember. I don't recognize the seal on it. It's not from any of the known vineyards and there's a hint of magic about it."

Johan bit back a gasp at the thrill that shot through Yubel, far too strong for her to conceal it from him. She hadn't felt anything like that since she'd once caught a far distant glimpse of Juudai in his new (and revolting) black armor.

"Show it to me." There was no question in her voice of being refused. Her fingers scraped softly across the surface of the table, digging in hard enough to bring up trails of wood. The innkeeper took one glance and hurried away, pale and shivering.

_What is it?_ Johan honestly didn't like talking to Yubel, but from the way she reacted, he had to know what it was. Or what she thought it was, at least. Yubel paid him no attention, however, concealing her every thought from him.

"I take it you've never had this tavern's finest before?" Invader asked, tilting his head back to finish his next cup. "It's rare, or so they tell me. Perhaps only one or two barrels available in this part of the world."

Yubel paid only scant attention to him as she caught a whiff of her own cup once again. "This is my first time here." Her attention focused instead on where the tavernkeeper'd vanished.

"No one else has drunk from that barrel except for me." Invader told Yubel, a smug smirk flickering across his features. Or so Johan thought from what little he could see behind the mask. The tone of voice said much, though. "No one else around here could afford something that old."

Johan wasn't surprised that Yubel said nothing at all, not as the keeper returned, scurrying back to their table with a piece of paper clutched in one hand. "I couldn't take the seal off," he apologized, "but I copied it exactly."

"Of course you couldn't." Yubel murmured, eyes dropping to the paper as the keeper held it out. "None of you could." She took the paper and perhaps only Johan would've noticed the way her hand shook just a small fraction.

The sign on it wasn't one he recognized, but Yubel certainly did. Once again that thrill shot through her, nearly as intensely as the first time. She crumpled the paper, tightening her grip on it until it burst into flame. Johan jumped mentally, then froze when he heard Yubel's voice echoing in the part of the mind they shared.

_Royal Delight. This is Royal Delight._ Yubel gestured imperiously to the tavernkeeper and as the fragrant aroma of wine filled the air, she breathed in deeply. Memories flickered through, ones she didn't bother hiding from Johan.

_Vineyards stretched out before them, miles and miles of grapes growing underneath the warm blue sky. This wasn't the first time Yubel or Juudai'd seen fields like this before, but the grapes that produced Royal Delight were in a class all by themselves. Large, juicy, each one perfect beyond the ability of words to describe, succulent when placed in the mouth..._

Johan tried to maintain distance from the memory but the strength of it wrapped around him and he was there, just as if he were Yubel...

_"Here, your Highness." The vineyard's caretaker offered a slender glass toward the young prince and another to Yubel. "This is from one of our finest years. I'm certain you'll enjoy it."_

_Each of them sipped and from the look on Juudai's face, this wine put everything he'd ever had to shame. Yubel wondered if she would ever taste anything that would equal this, and knew that there would never be anything that could surpass it. She took careful sips of the wine, wanting it to last as long as possible._

_"How can it taste so good?" Juudai asked in between sips of his own glass. Yubel wanted to know the same thing, but Juudai asked before she could._

_"Ah, that's a special secret only the royal caretakers here are allowed to know." The caretaker smiled warmly down at the two of them as he poured a glass for King Aodh and offered it to him with a flourish. "But there are stories, you know. One such says that the power of creation itself, the Gentle Darkness, blessed this vineyard at the dawn of time, so that the grapes that grow here would always be the very finest."_

_Juudai's eyes widened at that and Yubel squeezed his hand to warn him not to say anything. Not everyone knew of the power he'd been born to wield._

_"There's another story about Royal Delight as well." The caretaker exchanged a quick look with the king and perhaps only Yubel saw the barest hint of a nod from His Majesty. "So long as the royal line lasts, Royal Delight will exist. Some wine, you know, goes bad with enough time. But not Royal Delight. It will be as fine in ten thousand years as it is now, so long as the line of Kuragari exists."_

Johan's breath caught in his throat and he was surprised that his own palms didn't dampen with sweat. A thousand other memories surged into his mind, ones even Yubel hadn't noticed at the time and he wasn't sure if she did now. A spell of some kind wrapped around the barrels of wine, binding it to a bloodline of power...

The way the King looked at her, with tinges of worry and concern in the tightness around his eyes...

The power in the very earth underneath their feet, especially when the caretaker spoke of the 'Gentle Darkness'...

He forced more of his attention on what was going on in the tavern. He could think about all of that some other time, when he really _could_think about it, when he had a better chance of figuring out exactly what it all could mean. Anything that could give him some kind of leverage against Yubel would be useful.

"Is there something unusual about this wine?" Invader of Darkness leaned forward, showing no sign of shock at Yubel having destroyed the paper in her hand. On second thought, Johan wasn't too surprised by that. He'd probably seen more impressive displays of power made by the people who washed Haou's dishes.

"It's much older than I thought it was. I didn't know there was any left of this vintage." Yubel, Johan noticed, was very good at telling the absolute truth while lying through her teeth at the same time.

Invader drained yet another cup of wine. "Then it's exactly what we should have for our contest."

"Oh, yes, indeed." Johan could feel Yubel's smile and shuddered. Invader of Darkness didn't know what he'd gotten himself into. Even without being able to taste the wine on the same level Yubel did, the strength of it filtered through. "I doubt there could be a better vintage in all the world for this."

_What are you going to do to him?_ Johan didn't expect, and didn't get, an answer. He did, however, doubt with all of his heart that Invader of Darkness would make it out of here alive. If nothing else, Yubel never permitted anyone who'd seen her to any degree since taking over his body to live. He knew why; if Juudai found out that he, Johan, were still alive, then whatever he was doing would topple and fall, and Yubel didn't want that.

A thread of her thoughts wound around him. _When I'm ready, he will know about you. Not yet, little thief._ He wasn't entirely certain, since he'd never been drunk himself, but he thought she sounded a little out there. Just a little.

With nothing else to do, Johan slumped into a corner of his own mind and watched. There was so much more he wanted to do but he _couldn't_ do any of it. Helpless, _useless_, _**hopeless**_...

He thought he heard Yubel laughing at him.

* * *

><p>Yubel tipped back another cup of wine, enjoying the feel of the smooth, cool liquid sliding down her throat. Royal Delight, used only for the greatest of occasions at the king's table, a taste she hadn't had in far too long. When had that last time been? They'd celebrated winning the war, the defeat of the invading army.<p>

_Prematurely, though._ Her thoughts twisted down the dark paths that she walked so easily. The war hadn't ended, it had only changed shape. The leader of the army wasn't who they'd thought it had been and the defeat only masked infiltration.

Her grip tightened on the cup, denting it, and she didn't care. _I should've known._ Memories she tried not to think about surged through her...

No. She wasn't going to think about that now. Not in this place, not wearing that filthy thief's body! She finished her next cup of wine and the next, putting those memories farther behind her with each cup.

"What are you doing in this area?" She turned her thoughts outward now, focusing on her drinking opponent. Those memories of pain and humiliation were gone now, back into the dark abyss where they belonged. "I thought Haou's forces were west of here."

"They are." Invader replied, swirling his cup and staring into it before taking another drink. "But I wanted another visit while the tavern was still here."

Just as well that she'd chosen today to come here, then. If the thief's hunger had waited one more day, she might well have found a tavern that didn't have Royal Delight at all.

The wine would survive what she meant to do to this place, even if nothing else did.

She glanced for a moment at Invader, noting a few slurs to his speech, and held back a smile. If he hadn't noticed them yet, then he didn't know how drunk he was. Royal Delight wasn't for commoners like him. He might be able to withstand lesser vintages but this would have him flat on his back before much longer.

"I've heard that you're one of Haou's most highly ranked warriors," she murmured, more to keep him talking than out of actually caring to hear what he had to say. Not to mention, hearing about her beloved always made her day brighter.

Invader gestured once more for the tavernkeeper to fill his cup. "That I am. The very highest of his Death Duelists." Pride lit his voice as he tilted the cup back and drained it in a few moments. Yubel's lips twisted; Royal Delight should not be treated like that! "I have a dozen warriors who serve me directly and two dozen battallions underneath them. At Haou-sama's command I've destroyed hundreds of towns and villages and brought down three powerful rebels who thought to rise against him!"

Yubel leaned back in her chair, hood covering most of her face save for a savage smile. "Tell me more."

"Haou-sama relies on me to keep a third of his army in line." Invader declared, head held high. "He couldn't do as much without me as he does."

_I highly doubt that._ But perhaps her beloved should be made to do without this ever so vital warrior. If it could be done properly, of course. Dueling was an option, one that interested her. _Perhaps not today._ As much as she wanted to, her own eyes blurred now and then and she wasn't as co-ordinated as she should be. Remaining seated helped, but if she stood up, she knew the world would tilt around her and she'd be hardly able to draw a card, much less duel properly. _Filthy thief's useless body._ In her own form, she could've drunk twice as much as she had already and wouldn't yet feel anything.

"Who could he rely on if something happened to you?" Yubel asked, more or less to keep the conversation going than any other reason. While Juudai fascinated her for all time, the inner workings of his army meant nothing to her.

Invader traced a small design on the table, his armored fingers digging it deep enough that the tavernkeeper would have trouble getting it out. "My immediate second in command is a treacherous little toad by the name of Guardian Baou." His lip curled behind his mask, just barely visible if Yubel tilted her head the right way. "He would likely be promoted to take my place." He shrugged and finished his cup. "But that won't happen."

Yubel kept a smile from her own lips. "Of course." While Juudai's warriors meant little to nothing to her, the idea of prodding one or more of them to their deaths intrigued her. She would have to see how they could be useful to her. Anything that would help Juudai create Super Fusion and feel her love, not necessarily in that order.

Invader took another drink, his hand shaking just a trifle. Just a little, nothing that most people would notice. Yubel wasn't most people. "How many cups have you had?"

"I lost count." Invader shrugged and glanced at the keeper, who didn't look as if he were any more certain of the count. "But I'm still game for more!"

"Of course you are." Yubel took her next drink slowly, enjoying the flavor. There would undoubtly come a time when she shared this with Juudai. She refused to let that not happen. "The first one to fall loses, you know."

"I know!" Invader shot a heated glance toward her. "This isn't the first time I've done battle over wine."

"But it will be the first time you lose." Yubel dropped her voice, hand curled around her cup, fitting into the dents there. "I don't lose any battle I'm in."

_There was a certain duel..._She refused to listen to the thief at the moment. She had much more interesting ways to spend her time.

"If anyone falls, it won't be me. Do you think Haou-sama chose me because I'm _weak_?" Invader waved a hand at the others in the tavern, none of whom dared to move. "I could kill all of these right now and still be in shape enough to take on an entire town's worth of duelists."

The echo of his words had barely died before one of them spectators started to slip out of his seat and head for the door. Invader pulled a knife from under his armor and threw it toward the would-be escapee, pinning him to the wall through his shirt. "Damn." The Death Duelist peered closer. "I meant to put that between his eyes."

Yubel smiled. "If you can't aim that well, then I would say that I've won." Granted, even if he had killed the fool, she would claim victory. Yubel wasn't one to let petty little annoyances like 'reality' interfere with what she wanted.

Invader seized his cup, refilled only a moment earlier by the increasingly nervous keeper, and lifted it to his lips. "I say when I've won!" He started to drink, his hand shaking even more, until more wine spilled down the sides of his mouth than actually down his throat. Yubel kept on smiling, even as he slammed the empty cup back down and rose staggering to his feet, glaring at the spectator he'd pinned to the wall. "Can you duel?" At least, Yubel thought he said that. His voice wasn't quite the crisp bark it had been when he'd entered the tavern. The three steps he took toward the back wall where the other tried uselessly to pull the knife out from his shirt weren't as firm and unyielding anymore either.

"No! I can't!" The pinned man struggled harder as Invader gripped him around the neck. His pleas for mercy might've continued, if the warrior's grip didn't tighten with every moment. Yubel took a long drink as a certain _snap_echoed in the silent tavern and the captive faded away into a spray of sparkles and light.

"Too bad. You might've lived longer if you could." Invader turned, far too fast as it turned out, and stumbled over his own feet. Yubel finished the last of her wine and set the cup down.

"If you can't drink anymore, then I win." She could hear some of the other spectators mumbling among themselves, probably wondering if they could make it out the back before either she or Invader killed them as well. She could've told them they couldn't. But why spoil her own fun? She glanced at the tavernkeeper who still hovered a few paces away, wringing a towel between his hands. "Bring me what's left of that barrel."

As the keeper scurried away, Invader tried to get back on his feet. "Who said..." He stumbled again, succeeding only in wrapping his cloak around himself. Yubel doubted anyone who played his card would recognize him as he was now. "I couldn't drink anymore?" He stumbled again, this time landing flat on his face, shaking the building with the force of his fall. "Bring me another cup! This isn't over!"

Yubel strolled over to where he lay, still fighting against his own clothing. "It's over." In all truth, she wasn't feeling that wonderful herself. Her steps were shaky and everything around her danced with each movement she made. But she'd won and that was what mattered. She leaned closer to Invader and murmured into his ear, "But I'll tell you who I am anyway."

She could see him looking up at her, confused, even as she pulled her hood back to reveal her borrowed face. Invader blinked a few times, likely enough seeing more than one face looking back at him. "Haou-sama...spoke of someone like you..." He blinked even more, jerking upward. "Johan Andersen?"

"Not quite." Yubel cupped a hand before her, fire building up into a ball there. "But it will do for the last few seconds of your life." She tilted her head back and smiled at the rest of the tavern occupants. The keeper rolled the barrel up next to her, backing away once it was there. Excellent. Time to end this. "For the last few seconds of all of your lives."

And then she unleashed hell.

**To Be Continued**


	3. Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
><strong>Title:<strong> Errors in Judgment: 3-3: Aftermath  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Yubel, Johan  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 4,691|story: 13,364  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Humor, Angst||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Feedback:<strong> All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Yubel hasn't had a human body for this long in quite a while. She has to remember to eat, to drink...and what the effects of drinking are.

* * *

><p>Tavern walls blew outward, leaving behind little more than broken bodies and burning timbers. Here and there, crumpled heaps twitched, revealing survivors who likely enough wished they hadn't. Shattered bones, burned flesh, a few soft cries of pain...<p>

`Yubel drank in the pain and anger as it coursed through t hose who hadn't yet died. How sweet of them to empower her. _This _was what she truly needed to live. She licked her lips, tasting a few drops of wine there still.

Her legs wobbled underneath her and her head ached, making this not quite as enjoyable as she wanted it. Seeing straight was also harder than it usually was. _I think I'm drunk._ It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be, but perhaps that was because of her powers sustaining her. Damage was damage, after all.

Yet that didn't mean she was going to stay around here indefinitely. Invader of Darkness held some small importance to her beloved and her own plans indicated that Juudai couldn't know about her survival, much less Johan's, just yet. She would have to wrap everything up and return home to deal with a few minor issues as soon as possible.

First, to finish off the survivors, such as they were. She turned to them as she pulled out the Advanced Gem Beast deck. Not quite the training method she'd first envisioned, but it would do to teach them obedience. "Advanced Gem Beast Sapphire Pegasus! Advanced Gem Beast Topaz Tiger! Advanced Gem Beast Amber Mammoth! Advanced Gem Beast Amethyst Cat!" Those were the most aggressive; the turtle worked better for defense and the eagle would do to keep an eye out for trouble from above. Ruby Carbuncle was of no use for this.

One by one the summoned creatures appeared, glorious in their dark chains. She gestured toward the survivors. "Finish them for me." Sapphire Pegasus pawed the ground, the only physical form of protest she would allow from them. They _could _speak, she knew. They just chose not to. She smiled at his defiance, knowing what they thought of her. She said nothing else; her will, combined with knowing she held Johan's soul, overrode theirs.

With a defiant, pained neigh, Sapphire Pegasus turned and galloped toward the closest. Topaz Tiger, Amber Mammoth, and Amethyst Cat spread out, searching for others. At her command, Cobalt Eagle took to the air, scanning not just for any others who might've managed to get out of sight but for the possible approach of Haou's army. Yubel never took chances, not when it came to Juudai and his unpredictability.

Deep within her, Johan's heart pulsed with pain and she could tell he forced himself to watch. Not out of love for pain (what a fool) but to know what she forced his beloved family to do. Oh, let him dream in his thoughts of revenge. He would see her way was the right way soon enough. Even if he didn't, she wasn't going to stop what she did now.

Screams of protest and pain echoed across the field as the Advanced Gem Beasts cleaned up what she hadn't finished for herself. Yubel ran the tips of her fingers across the barrel of wine, still safely beside her. _I'll have to take good care of this._ She winced as the comet's light struck her a little more harshly than usual; perhaps it was time to get out of this place. She'd done enough. She'd fed and watered (wined) her borrowed body and she'd made certain no one would be able to tell anyone what happened there. Only shattered ruins remained.

"Come. It's time to go home."

Each of the Advanced Gem Beasts faded away, leaving behind only the smallest of evidence they'd been there in the first place. She cast a quick look over a few hoof prints and paw prints, a claw mark here and there. Nothing that many other monsters couldn't take the blame for, she decided. Nothing to betray to her beloved that the filthy thief still lived.

_What would you do if he did find out?_ Johan's voice choked hard with anger, anger she siphoned for herself. _His_ body needed food, _she_ needed darkness, darkness he thoughtfully provided for her now. _What would you do if he came after you for what you've done?_

Yubel smiled. "I'm waiting for him to do just that." She set one hand on the wine barrel and opened her mind, searching for the proper gateway. The little pocket world she'd carved her castle into could only be accessed from one particular door and she knew it wasn't that far away, not for her.

_You want him to find you?_ Johan wanted to break down into tears; she could tell that easily enough. He spoke to her only so he wouldn't actually do it.

"All in good time, thief. But he won't come looking for _you_." What nonsense. Juudai might have searched for the brat when he'd had hope Johan lived, but with that hope brutally slaughtered, he would cross her path only in the search for more souls for Super Fusion. _I wonder if I should have given Brron more to work with._ The thought of Juudai's stricken eyes at the sight of torn cards or clothes thrilled her.

No matter. All had fallen as it should regardless.

She leaped across the expanses of the world, moving with too much speed for anyone to see her, ignoring the way the wind ripped at her clothes and tore at her hair. No one could see her and she paid attention to no one and nothing but the way to her home.

Why would he come for Johan when he hadn't come for her? Why would he even _start_ to look in the first place? Those words echoed behind her mind as she moved along swifter than anyone could see; why did he come for him and not her? Why did he _care_ about the revolting thief, why didn't he _come for her_?

Why did he let the pain rip into her, tear into her soul, shred her until there was all but nothing left, was that his love, was that how Juudai loved her? Was that his new way to show that he cared? Was this new Juudai so different from the one she'd known in Kuragari?

That had to be it. That was the only fact that made any sense to her. He was still Juudai, still the one she loved, the one who loved her, who swore he'd always love only her, and he wouldn't break that promise, he'd never broken any promise to her, and he never would...

Tears stung the corners of her eyes and she welcomed them. Pain was Juudai's love, after all. She could never forget that. She didn't _want_to forget it. She'd die before she forgot what it was like to love him.

No. She wouldn't even die first. Even if she did, she would always remember Juudai's love.

Forever.

* * *

><p>He couldn't have destroyed this place more thoroughly himself. A few scattered remnants of wood that had once been walls protecting from the elements, providing (or so he recalled from what Invader of Darkness told him some time earlier) a safe haven for humans and monsters to drink and eat together, that was all that was left.<p>

He didn't move from the vantage point he'd chosen, scanning the area with his eyes and other senses, senses that he'd only begun to tap into, dark and twisted power that _told him_ what he needed to know, _told him_ where power was, where duelists were...

This was no duel. This was nothing but sheer destructive _force_. He wasn't certain what form the power took, be it human or monster, duelist or ...something else, but power was there nevertheless.

"Those are the tracks of some feline monster," Skull Bishop declared from a short distance away, his own head bent to study them. None of his warriors drew too close to the tracks, for fear of blotting them out. "Perhaps a One-Eyed White Tiger or a Slave Tiger." He indicated another set of paw prints. "I would suggest those are from a smaller cat, probably a Nipped Tabby Cat or an Interesting Black Cat."

_Two cats. _Haou turned his attention to two other sets, neither close to the other, but enough to suggest the owners had been here at the same time, or close to it. One set came from a hoofed beast of some type, while the other...

"I would say those are from a Flying Elephant myself, Haou-sama," Guardian Baou added. He didn't sound in the least as if it bothered him that his immediate superior had perished here.

_As if he would care. All that bothers him is that he didn't get the chance to kill Invader himself._ Haou looked forward to the day he would be able to defeat Guardian Baou and put him to the only good use a treacherous bit of slime like him could ever be: Super Fusion.

For the moment, however, Baou was best suited to his new task, taking over Invader of Darkness's position. If nothing else, it kept him firmly under Haou's eye. He would do nothing against his master, not while everyone else stood ready to attack him if he twitched a hair out of line.

_Two cats, an elephant, and something with hooves._ Images of creatures he'd tried to forget for months wafted through the back of his thoughts. _Amethyst Cat, Topaz Tiger, Amber Mammoth, Sapphire Pegasus._

No. Haou kept his visor down and stared harder at the tracks. It could not be them. For that to happen, Johan would have to be alive. They wouldn't work for anyone else, even if they'd somehow survived his death.

Though perhaps they weren't _working _so much as they were traveling? Searching for him, perhaps, if they didn't know what had happened? No, that was ridiculous. They wouldn't even know he was here. He crushed that line of thought without a second's remorse.

"Whatever destroyed this place, it isn't here now and left no trail we can follow." Chaos Sorcerer summed up everything quickly. He gestured to a stream that trickled across the landscape a short distance away. "We can't even be certain any of the tracks belong to whoever destroyed it. I've been here before and several creatures used this place as a watering hole, with or without the tavern."

Yes. That explained why different types of creatures would've left tracks. The record wasn't perfect and try as he might, he couldn't get an _image_ of what happened here that told enough to clear up the confusion. Behind his visor his eyes narrowed. That in and of itself stirred up his suspicions.

_Johan or the Gem Beasts couldn't do this._ They were powerful, he knew that down to the core of his bones. But they couldn't do _this_. He didn't know of anyone who could and underneath his impassive gaze, that worried Haou far more than he wanted anyone there to know.

"Leave a detachment to guard the area for three cycles of the comet. If they see anything, I want to know about it as soon as possible." Haou highly doubted that whoever'd done this would return, but he preferred not to take any chances. Mismatched eyes and a wild laugh echoed in his mind but he ignored it as he did the thoughts of Johan and the Gem Beasts. Yubel was as dead as they were and even if she lived, he would destroy her all over again.

He didn't move just yet, however, as Chaos Sorcerer and Skull Bishop waved aside certain of the warriors to form the guard. Instead, he moved to where the destruction centered and scanned the area once again, searching for anything that might give a hint as to what happened.

_If Johan survived that duel so Brron could kill him, Yubel could have as well._ He didn't like the direction his thoughts took, but that didn't stop him from stalking down the mental road. _Why would she come here? What could she gain?_ She wanted him; he had no doubts about that. Revenge for what he'd done to her, sending her into space, that motivated her now. But why destroy a simple tavern, if that was indeed what she'd done? It simply didn't make any sense.

He knew that in this world, everyone had to eat, humans and monsters alike. But Yubel sitting down at a table and eating with others? His mind couldn't, didn't, _refused_ to comprehend that. There had to be more to the situation than what he could figure out here.

Unfortunately, there were no more clues here. Yubel or Invader of Darkness having grown drunk enough to destroy himself (which was a theory he didn't like at all), it was over and done with now. Nothing more could be learned from the wreckage and there was no more time to waste here.

"We go." Without another word he stalked away, thoughts now turning to the battle plans they'd forged for the next village. Guardian Baou's talents were different from Invader of Darkness; he would have to modify his plans somewhat in order to fit the new situation. But for all intents and purposes, nothing else changed at all in his life.

He was Haou, the warlord who would rule all of this land and bring about the end of the rule of evil, forever.

* * *

><p>No sooner had Yubel sealed the gateway behind herself did she reach within and <em>twist<em>, pushing Johan away. Where one entered, now two stood. She stretched out her wings, enjoying the sensation of them reaching out to their fullest span. That was one problem with being in someone else's body; her wings cramped far too easily.

Johan crumpled to the floor the moment she left him, fingers scraping across the cold metal beneath him. She spared him not a glance, but instead reached down to the deck holders on his hips. He wouldn't need these for some time, she decided, removing both decks and sending them to her own private storage space, the same place she kept her own when she wasn't dueling.

If he noticed, she couldn't tell, and cared less. There was no way for him to leave her castle on his own, so when she needed his body again, it would be there for her. For now, she decided he could suffer where he was. She had other matters that needed dealing with.

Such as the barrel of wine she'd brought along with her. She hefted it easily up on her shoulder and strode through corridors only she could find in this place. After all these eons, she knew the inner workings of her castle even better than she'd ever known the castle of Kuragari. Not that it was so surprising. She'd spent perhaps twenty years in that castle. Here she'd roamed for thousands, waiting for Juudai to be reborn, to call her back into the world.

_If only he remembered me. Remembered his promise._ It was all Johan's fault, of course, that he didn't. If it hadn't been for that revolting thief, Juudai would know her again. She might've had to jog his memory a little, but she could've done it. She _would_ have done it, defeating him in that duel and bringing him here, where they would have begun their infinite life together.

But Yubel could adapt. She always adapted. If it was from human to monster or from guardian to rejected love, she _adapted_. This was all to the good at any rate. Juudai needed to re-learn who he was, to accept the power that burned within him, and to learn to accept her love. This would happen. Surely as life and death itself.

Most of all, he needed to make Super Fusion for her. Brron had made a good start on it, but Juudai already was farther along in a much shorter time than the so-called Mad King ever achieved. When the time was right, she would swoop down on him and take that most powerful of cards away.

_We will be together forever and that card will make it so. _The twelve dimensions existed for one purpose only, which was being filled with her undying love for him. She would fuse them into one universe composed of nothing but that love.

She settled the barrel down in a half-empty storage room and stepped back to examine it, hands on her hips. When that time came, there would be damage to her castle. The forces unleashed by Super Fusion were titanic, after all. This wine had to survive, so they could toast one another's life and the rebirth of their love. Here would be sheltered enough. No matter how the castle shook and swayed, the cask would be safe.

From a corner she took a slender goblet, far more finely made than the battered cup she'd drunk from in the tavern. She poured herself a true cup of wine and savored the aroma. Back in her own body, the headache and lack of judgment that possessed her the more she drank was no more. Let Johan deal with all of that. She breathed in the scent, thinking back to sun-dappled days when she and Juudai worried of nothing more vital than lessons and what they would do when they were over with.

When he remembered her and knew her and loved her with all of his heart as she loved him.

When, changed or not changed, she'd been by his side, and he'd treasured her as she did him.

Slowly she drank, the wine unnecessary in this form. But she didn't drink for the taste or for the need of it. She drank for the memories, for a kingdom lost to the powers of evil and a love who refused to remember her, the stubborn boy. She took her time with it; she couldn't, or wouldn't, drink the whole barrel dry. But she wanted to drink as herself, not as the thief who dared to stand between her and Juudai.

Her eye fell on two other goblets, set far above where the one she drank from now had been. They were as high above the one in her hand as it was above the tavern's cup, crafted at the height of Kuragari's splendor, older than even she and Juudai's souls.

_The wedding goblets._ Yes. She would save the rest of this wine to recreate the day they'd been married so long ago. They would renew the vows one day. There could be no other end to all that she'd fought for.

When she'd drained the goblet dry, she set it back upon the shelf. No more, not until she and Juudai could share this. Only a royal couple could pledge their love with Royal Delight, after all. There could be no lesser vintage for them.

With a faint twitch of her wings, she rose up and twisted space once more, this time reappearing in the room she'd left Johan in. He still sat there, head in his hands, legs gathered underneath him, staring at the floor. She lounged on her throne and paid him no attention. Instead, she called up images of Haou and watched as he savaged yet another village, his warriors tearing through the pathetic defenders, leaving destruction and disaster behind them.

There were others she had to watch; his friends who searched for him among them. Their plans meant little, but she wouldn't let them interfere in _her_plans either. All in good time. For the moment, she watched Haou, splendid, cold, unstoppable.

_Do you understand yet, my Juudai? I love you so much. I always will. You will be mine forever. I love you. I love you._

* * *

><p>Johan couldn't figure out which way was up for a good fifteen minutes after Yubel dropped him to the floor. "The way his head pointed" wasn't good enough right now, not with how the ceiling and floor pitched and yawed all around him, dipping first one way and then the other. He clutched his arms around his stomach and did his best to keep everything Yubel'd put into it <em>in<em> his stomach. The last thing he wanted was to have to go eat again with her running the situation.

In all truth, the last thing he wanted was to even be here, but having Yubel decide how much and what they ate was a definite second on the list.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he didn't look at anything, he could get around to finding out what was up and what was down. Eventually. Once his stomach stopped screaming in protest and once he could think straight for more than ten seconds at a time. Somewhere in the back of his skull there was a small man with a very large drum kit, pounding out some of the most intricate drum solos of all time. Johan understood now exactly why Zeus preferred getting his skull split open as opposed to taking an aspirin.

Deep breaths. They likely enough wouldn't do anything but it was something he could focus on. He winced; they really weren't doing anything, at least not any miracle three breath cures. But he took them anyway.

He didn't know how many he took before deciding he needed water. Despite all the wine Yubel'd drunk, his throat was dry and scratchy now. Maybe she'd taken all the thirst-quenching of it with her. That would be just like her, not leaving him anything he could use to help himself.

One hand dropped to his hip, just to check, and he wasn't at all surprised to see both deck holders empty. _Ruby...everyone..._He would've given half his soul for the chance to see them again, even in those Advanced Gem Beast forms. His true family lived underneath that; Johan didn't doubt that at all. He'd find a way to save them. No matter what Yubel'd done, it couldn't break the bonds that tied them all together. Nothing she did could shatter their family.

But before he could find that way, before he could break their bonds and free himself as well, he needed something to drink. Yubel was nowhere around and he doubted she would've done anything to help if she had been. This was his body, back in his keeping for the moment, which meant it was his task to set it to rights.

Unfortunately, even moving a few inches sent his head whirling all over again and his stomach lurched. He didn't know how he kept himself from throwing up and he wondered if he wanted to. Maybe he'd feel better without all of that churning around in his stomach.

Water. First water, then he could figure out everything else. He inched along, fighting every urge with all of his strength, until his fingers brushed against a smooth surface that rose overhead. A wall, he guessed, tilting his head back and confirming what he felt. He saw a small opening farther along and made his way there inch by precarious inch. If Yubel wanted him to stay where he was, she would've set it up so he couldn't escape no matter what. So if he could make it there, then she wouldn't object.

Not that he _cared _about her objecting, but it was easier to go along with her wishes. She needed his body (that thought sent another surge of revulsion all through him) so she would let him take care of it, at least for the moment.

Johan wasn't certain how long it took him to reach that opening. If he thought about it too hard, he knew he wasn't even certain of where it led. It could be anywhere, and none of those places might involve having water. Still, he headed that way anyway. Yubel's throne room had even less water than this potential corridor to somewhere else did, after all. What else was he going to do?

It was indeed a corridor, one with half a dozen doorways scattered down it, only vaguely visible in the half-light. Johan closed his eyes just long enough to get his bearings and then inched down to the first one. One of them had to have something to do with water. He wasn't picky with how, so long as he had it. His throat ached and burned, his headache throbbed, and his stomach still protested from all the food stuffed into it. If he didn't hurt so much, he would've curled up and slept where he was, just to get away from the pain.

Well, that wouldn't make any of it actually end, he told himself as he crept along. Finding water would at least ease his throat.

Peering into the third room revealed heaven, or a reasonable parallel. He didn't ask himself why Yubel had a fully functional modern bathroom in this castle. He could worry about that some other time. Instead, he put all of the facilities he could find to good use, from the toilet (oh, it felt good to get all of that out of him!) to the sink (washing his face with good, clean, hot water!) and then finding a spare cup to drink until he needed the toilet once again.

A good hot shower finished up his cleansing, getting rid of all the dirt and sweat and everything else he preferred not to think about. He stared for a moment at the leather piled into a corner and decided a towel would do for clothes right now. He had no idea of where his real clothes were and Yubel probably wouldn't tell him even if he asked.

"You won't need them." Yubel's voice rang out, echoing from the ceramic walls around him. He sighed and closed his eyes, though it wouldn't do any good. Escaping her in her own home wasn't possible. "From now on, thief, should your body need food or anything else, you'll take care of it."

He said nothing but bent his head; what was he going to do, tell her that he wouldn't? She obviously didn't know how to do it herself. For his own sake, for staying alive to find a way to stop her, to get his family back and to find a way to help Juudai, he'd do as she said.

"You'll need to rest. There is a place two doors down from where you are now." There wasn't a hint of compassion in her tone and Johan didn't expect to hear it. Necessity, that was all. If she could've run his body without food or rest or water, then she would do so. "Yes, I would, and don't think I won't try to find a way. _I _don't need any of that. If you're going to serve me, then you shouldn't either."

Johan's only answer was to push himself to his feet and make his way out the door, stopping just long enough to gather up the suit. It would need cleaning before he wore it again, but he'd be damned before he'd do Yubel's laundry for her too. This was _her _outfit, not his.

"Don't be so certain of that, thief." Now she laughed, a cruel sound that echoed in his heart as much as in his ears. "But if you want to deceive yourself, go ahead and do so."

One flicker, just a thought on the edge of his mind, and Johan decided it was better not to think about it. For now, sleep called, and he suspected he would wake up not in his own body once again. His head still hurt and he didn't really want to do anything but get that rest. _You'd think she could at least let me enjoy the wine if I'm going to deal with the hangover._

He sank down on the bed once he found it and let himself drift away. In his dreams, he'd be with the Gem Beasts and Juudai and Yubel would never, ever hurt them again.

**The End**


End file.
